Touch guitar
{{short description|Stringed instrument of the guitar family}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name = Touch guitar
| image = Dave Bunker's Personal "Touch Guitar".jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Double-neck, headless touch guitar
| background = string
| names =
| classification = String
| hornbostel_sachs = 321.322
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = Composite chordophone
| inventors = {{hlist|Jimmie Webster|Harry DeArmond|Dave Bunker}}
| developed = 1950s—60s
| timbre =
| volume =
| attack =
| decay =
| range =
| pitch =
| related = {{bulleted list|Warr Guitar|Chapman stick|Megatar}}
| musicians =
| builders =
| articles =
}}
The touch guitar is a stringed instrument of the guitar family which has been designed to use a fretboard-tapping playing style. Touch guitars are meant to be touched or tapped, not strummed.{{Cite web|date=17 December 2021|title=Types of Guitars: Detailed Guide|url=https://primesound.org/types-of-guitars/|access-date=10 January 2022|website=PrimeSound.org}}
History
The touch or tapping technique was formally codified by American guitarist Jimmie Webster in his 1952 method book called the Illustrated Touch System.{{Cite book|title=Illustrated "Touch System" for Electric and Amplified Spanish Guitar|last=Webster|first=Jimmie|publisher=Wm. J. Smith Music Co.|year=1952|location=New York, NY}}
File:Dave Bunker in Performance.jpg
Webster credited pickup designer Harry DeArmond with first demonstrating the potential for touch-style playing.{{Cite book|title=50 years of Gretsch Electrics : half a century of White Falcons, Gents, Jets & other great guitars|author=Bacon, Tony|date=2005|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=9781476852805|location=[United States]|oclc=974231751}} Webster himself collaborated with Gretsch Guitars on a guitar stereo pickup design for the Touch System (which fed the bass and melody output to two separate amplifiers), but the concept was not commercially successful.{{Cite book|title=50 years of Gretsch Electrics : half a century of White Falcons, Gents, Jets & other great guitars|author=Bacon, Tony|date=2005|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=9781476852805|location=[United States]|oclc=974231751}}
Unlike Webster's approach, which was to play on a single-necked instrument, guitarist and luthier Dave Bunker designed, built, and patented (in 1961) the first double-necked, headless,{{Cite book|title=The Strat in the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology|last=Dickerson|first=Deke|publisher=Voyageur Press|year=2013|location=Minneapolis, MN|pages=120}} touch-tapping instrument called the DuoLectar.{{Cite book|title=Objects for use : handmade by design|date=2001|publisher=H.N. Abrams in association with the American Craft Museum|others=Smith, Paul J., 1931-, Busch, Akiko.|isbn=0810906112|location=New York|oclc=46385863|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/objectsforusehan0000unse}} While both guitars employed a two-handed tapping technique, Webster used a single-necked instrument while Bunker used his double-necked DuoLectar guitar.{{Cite book|title=American basses : an illustrated history & player's guide|last=Roberts|first=James|date=2003|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=0879307218|location=San Francisco|oclc=52518941}}
Webster's tapping technique can be heard on a 1959 record.{{Cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqLeCXoX_jY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/vqLeCXoX_jY |archive-date=15 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Webster's Un-abridged|last=Webster|first=Jimmie|date=1959|work=YouTube.com}}{{cbignore}} In 1960, Bunker first demonstrated his double-necked instrument for the Portland Oregonian newspaper,{{Cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives/Archives?d_viewref=doc&p_docnum=-1&f_docref=v2:11A73E5827618330@HA-ORGB-12C55885A0A8B874@2437049-12C556B968B5FE0D@0&toc=true&p_docref=v2:11A73E5827618330@HA-ORGB-12C55885A0A8B874@2437049-12C05B8DD9AA2FA2@23|title=New Guitar Tickles Ears When Touched By Maker|date=24 April 1960|work=Oregonian|access-date=27 December 2018}} and then on the nationally broadcast television show Ozark Jubilee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAstqXR4QTc&list=RDEAstqXR4QTc&start_radio=1)|title=Dave Bunker - Duo-Lectar|date=September 1960|website=YouTube.com}} His designs ultimately led to his double-necked touch guitar in 1975.{{Cite web|url=http://www.historylink.org/File/10454|title=Dave Bunker submits patent application for his dual-necked Duo-Lectar electric "Touch Guitar" to U.S. Patent Office on September 16, 1957.|website=www.historylink.org|access-date=28 December 2018}}{{Cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20000625/4028640/why-dave-bunker-is-not-singing-the-blues|title=Why Dave Bunker Is Not Singing the Blues|last=Seven|first=Richard|date=25 June 2000|work=Seattle Times Newspaper}}
Other designs followed. Among them was the single-neck Chapman Stick (developed by Emmett Chapman in 1970 and produced in 1974{{cite web|url=http://www.stick.com/history/stick/|title=www.stick.com - History|work=stick.com}}), the single-neck Warr Guitar (first produced in 1991{{cite web|url=http://warrguitars.com/contact/|title=Info|work=Warr Guitars}}) and the single-neck Mobius Megatar.{{cite web|url=http://www.megatar.com/#what-is-a-megatar|title=The Megatar}} Other touch guitars have included the Solene, Chuck Soupios's dual-necked BiAxe{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2W5TNlnKoY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/n2W5TNlnKoY |archive-date=15 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=The Biaxe|date=4 January 2009|work=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} (patented in 1980 and produced during the early 1980s), and Sergio Santucci's TrebleBass.
Merle Travis occasionally used a tapping style{{Cite book|title=A Concise History of Rock Music|last=Wade|first=Graham|publisher=Bill's Music Shelf|year=2012|isbn=978-16191-1016-8|location=Warwickshire, UK|pages=314}} on his single-neck, strummed guitar, as did Roy Smeck, George Van Eps, Barney Kessel and Harvey Mandell.{{Cite news|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/watch-duo-lectar-double-neck-touch-guitar-action-circa-1960-video|title=Watch the Duo-Lectar Double-Neck "Touch Guitar" in Action Circa 1960|last=Scapelliti|first=Christopher|date=19 June 2015|work=Guitar World}} Subsequent years have seen Eddie Van Halen, Stanley Jordan, Steve Vai, Jeff Healey, Fred Frith, Hans Reichel, Elliott Sharp, and Markus Reuter all feature the use of tapping techniques.